National Dish
Around the World in Search of Food, History, and the Meaning of Home
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Narrated by:
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Kathleen Gati
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By:
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Anya von Bremzen
About this listen
Named a Best Book of 2023 by Financial Times, The Guardian, and BBC's The Food Programme
“Anya von Bremzen, already a legend of food writing and a storytelling inspiration to me, has done her best work yet. National Dish is a must-read for all those who believe in building longer tables where food is what bring us all together.”—José Andrés
“If you’ve ever contemplated the origins and iconography of classic foods, then National Dish is the sensory-driven, historical deep dive for you . . . [an] evocative, gorgeously layered exercise in place-making and cultural exploration, nuanced and rich as any of the dishes captured within.”—Boston Globe
In this engrossing and timely journey to the crossroads of food and identity, award-winning writer Anya von Bremzen explores six of the world’s most fascinating and iconic culinary cultures—France, Italy, Japan, Spain, Mexico, and Turkey—brilliantly weaving cuisine, history, and politics into a work of scintillating connoisseurship and charm
We all have an idea in our heads about what French food is—or Italian, or Japanese, or Mexican, or . . . But where did those ideas come from? Who decides what makes a national food canon? Anya von Bremzen has won three James Beard Awards and written several definitive cookbooks, as well as her internationally acclaimed memoir Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking. In National Dish, she investigates the truth behind the eternal cliché—“we are what we eat”—traveling to six storied food capitals, going high and low, from world-famous chefs to culinary scholars to strangers in bars, in search of how cuisine became connected to place and identity.
A unique and magical cook’s tour of the world, National Dish brings us to a deep appreciation of how the country makes the food, and the food the country.
©2023 Anya von Bremzen (P)2023 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“A fast-paced, entertaining travelogue, peppered with compact history lessons that reveal the surprising ways dishes become iconic. Reading this book is like traveling with someone who knows the best places to eat and the right people to meet, but who can still find joy in humble, improvised meals . . . Our beloved dishes may not always tell a happy story about who we are, but they tell us what we have to give.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Whether she’s getting lost in loud, crowded Italian streets while searching for the most exquisite pasta, dining on ramen amid Japanese septuagenarians or making mole for an unexpected fiesta in Oaxaca, von Bremzen nimbly separates fact from “fakelore” to divine what is important behind the association of cuisine with geography—the character of a place and the memories of those who live there.”—Washington Post
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High on the Hog
- A Culinary Journey from Africa to America
- By: Jessica B. Harris
- Narrated by: Jessica Harris
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Acclaimed cookbook author Jessica B. Harris weaves an utterly engaging history of African American cuisine, taking the listener on a harrowing journey from Africa across the Atlantic to America, and tracking the trials that the people and the food have undergone along the way. From chitlins and ham hocks to fried chicken and vegan soul, Harris celebrates the delicious and restorative foods of the African American experience and details how each came to form an important part of African American culture, history, and identity.
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more of a history lesson than a culinary book
- By Scott Johnson on 09-02-15
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Drive-Thru Dreams
- A Journey Through the Heart of America's Fast-Food Kingdom
- By: Adam Chandler
- Narrated by: Adam Chandler
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Most any honest person can own up to harboring at least one fast-food guilty pleasure. In Drive-Thru Dreams, Adam Chandler explores the inseparable link between fast food and American life for the past century. The dark underbelly of the industry’s largest players has long been scrutinized and gutted, characterized as impersonal, greedy, corporate, and worse. But, in unexpected ways, fast food is also deeply personal and emblematic of a larger-than-life image of America.
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Road Trip Audio!
- By Anonazon on 06-28-19
By: Adam Chandler
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The Potlikker Papers
- A Food History of the Modern South
- By: John T. Edge
- Narrated by: John T. Edge
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Potlikker Papers tells the story of food and politics in the South over the last half century. Beginning with the pivotal role of cooks in the civil rights movement, noted authority John T. Edge narrates the South's journey from racist backwater to a hotbed of American immigration. In so doing, he traces how the food of the poorest Southerners has become the signature trend of modern American haute cuisine. This is a people's history of the modern South told through the lens of food.
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Best book of the year!
- By PD on 06-12-17
By: John T. Edge
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Super Sushi Ramen Express
- One Family's Journey Through the Belly of Japan
- By: Michael Booth
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Japan is arguably the preeminent food nation on earth, a Mecca for the world's greatest chefs, with more Michelin stars than any other country. The Japanese go to extraordinary lengths and expense to eat food that is marked both by its exquisite preparation and exotic content. Their creativity, dedication, and courage in the face of dishes such as cod sperm and octopus ice cream is only now beginning to be fully appreciated in the sushi and ramen-saturated West.
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Interesting material that's well-narrated
- By John S. on 11-09-16
By: Michael Booth
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My Place at the Table
- A Recipe for a Delicious Life in Paris
- By: Alexander Lobrano
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A mouthwatering testament to the healing power of food, My Place at the Table is a moving coming-of-age story of how a gay man emerges from a wounding childhood, discovers himself, and finds love. Published here for the first time is Lobrano’s “little black book,” an insider’s guide to his thirty all-time-favorite Paris restaurants.
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Great foodie talk, great palate
- By daily walker on 07-02-21
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The Tastemakers
- Why We’re Crazy for Cupcakes but Fed Up with Fondue (Plus Baconomics, Superfoods, and Other Secrets from the World of Food Trends)
- By: David Sax
- Narrated by: David Sax
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In this eye-opening, witty work of reportage, David Sax uncovers the world of food trends: Where they come from, how they grow, and where they end up. Traveling from the South Carolina rice plot of America’s premier grain guru to Chicago’s gluttonous Baconfest, Sax reveals a world of influence, money, and activism that helps decide what goes on your plate.
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Informative - Engaging - Entertaining!
- By Rena on 09-01-14
By: David Sax
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A Bite-Sized History of France
- Gastronomic Tales of Revolution, War, and Enlightenment
- By: Stephane Henaut, Jeni Mitchell
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From the cassoulet that won a war to the crêpe that doomed Napoleon, from the rebellions sparked by bread and salt to the new cuisines forged by empire, the history of France is intimately entwined with its gastronomic pursuits. A witty exploration of the facts and legends surrounding some of the most popular French foods and wines by a French cheesemonger and an American academic, A Bite-Sized History of France tells the compelling and often surprising story of France from the Roman era to modern times.
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Great stories, but...
- By David on 01-12-20
By: Stephane Henaut, and others
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The Way We Eat Now
- How the Food Revolution Has Transformed Our Lives, Our Bodies, and Our World
- By: Bee Wilson
- Narrated by: Bee Wilson
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Food is one of life's great joys. So why has eating become such a source of anxiety and confusion? Bee Wilson shows that in two generations the world has undergone a massive shift from traditional, limited diets to more globalized ways of eating, from bubble tea to quinoa, from Soylent to meal kits. Paradoxically, our diets are getting healthier and less healthy at the same time. For some, there has never been a happier food era than today: a time of unusual herbs, farmers' markets, and internet recipe swaps.
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Slow, doesn't get to the point-20% info, 80% fluff
- By DrSarah on 11-13-19
By: Bee Wilson
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Hippie Food
- How Back-to-the-Landers, Longhairs, and Revolutionaries Changed the Way We Eat
- By: Jonathan Kauffman
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Food writer Jonathan Kauffman journeys back more than half a century - to the 1960s and 1970s - to tell the story of how a coterie of unusual men and women embraced an alternative lifestyle that would ultimately change how modern Americans eat. Impeccably researched, Hippie Food chronicles how the longhairs, revolutionaries, and back-to-the-landers rejected the square establishment of President Richard Nixon's America and turned to a more idealistic and wholesome communal way of life and food.
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If you grew up eating health food you'll love it
- By Susie Wyshak on 05-09-18
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Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking
- A Memoir of Food and Longing
- By: Anya von Bremzen
- Narrated by: Kathleen Gati
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Anya occupies two parallel food universes: one where she writes about four-star restaurants, the other where a taste of humble kolbasa transports her back to her scarlet-blazed socialist past. To bring that past to life, in its full flavor, both bitter and sweet, Anya and her mother, Larisa, embark on a journey unlike any other: they decide to eat and cook their way through every decade of the Soviet experience - turning Larisa’s kitchen into a "time machine and an incubator of memories". Together, mother and daughter re-create meals both modest and sumptuous.
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Does Pronunciation Matter?
- By Mary on 11-23-13
By: Anya von Bremzen
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Ferran
- The Inside Story of El Bulli and the Man Who Reinvented Food
- By: Colman Andrews
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In his lively, unprecedented close-up portrait of Ferran Adrià, award-winning food writer Colman Andrews traces this groundbreaking chef’s rise from resort hotel dishwasher to culinary deity, and the evolution of El Bulli from a German-owned beach bar into the establishment voted annually by an international jury to be “the world’s best restaurant”.
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recasting needed
- By Marco I on 09-09-18
By: Colman Andrews
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Eight Flavors
- The Untold Story of American Cuisine
- By: Sarah Lohman
- Narrated by: Sarah Lohman
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The United States boasts a culturally and ethnically diverse population which makes for a continually changing culinary landscape. But a young historical gastronomist named Sarah Lohman discovered that American food is united by eight flavors: black pepper, vanilla, curry powder, chili powder, soy sauce, garlic, MSG, and Sriracha. In Eight Flavors, Lohman sets out to explore how these influential ingredients made their way to the American table.
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Great read... Terrible accents
- By S. Macklin on 12-14-18
By: Sarah Lohman
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Unprocessed
- My City-Dwelling Year of Reclaiming Real Food
- By: Megan Kimble
- Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In January of 2012, Megan Kimble was a 26-year-old living in a small apartment without even a garden plot to her name. But she cared about where food came from, how it was made, and what it did to her body: so she decided to go an entire year without eating processed foods. Unprocessed is the narrative of Megan's extraordinary year, in which she milled wheat, extracted salt from the sea, milked a goat, slaughtered a sheep, and more - all while earning an income that fell well below the federal poverty line.
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Very insightful
- By Anonymous User on 01-10-21
By: Megan Kimble
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Steak
- One Man's Search for the World's Tastiest Piece of Beef
- By: Mark Schatzker
- Narrated by: Mike Lenz
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
"Of all the meats, only one merits its own structure. There is no such place as a lamb house or a pork house, but even a small town can have a steak house." So begins Mark Schatzker's ultimate carnivorous quest. Fed up with one too many mediocre steaks, the intrepid journalist set out to track down, define, and eat the perfect specimen.
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Journey into a deeper appreciation for beef
- By John Madany on 10-08-20
By: Mark Schatzker
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